Integration method and structure of wood and plastic materials

ABSTRACT

The present invention is an integration method and structure of wood material and a plastic material. The method includes obtaining at least one piece of wood material, forming the wood material to a pre-determined shape, placing the wood material inside a plastic injection mold; forming a plastic base inside the wood material by use of a plastic composition in the plastic injection mold. The plastic composition of the plastic base permeates into fibers of the wood material, thus, the two materials are integrated into one piece. The wood material uses plastic base as durable support. The pre-determined shape of the wood material and the area of the plastic base displays the texture of natural wood of the wood material. Thus, the wood and plastic materials integrate perfectly to meet product demand.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an integration method and structure of two different materials, and more particularly to an integration method and structure of wood and plastic materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The texture and visual effect of the surface of natural wood conveys a sense of high quality and warmth, which is attractive to consumers. The wood texture and visual effect cannot be replaced by other materials.

Because forests are shrinking rapidly, it becomes more and more difficult to obtain the raw material of natural wood, and the cost for natural wood increases correspondingly. In terms of mass produced products, the demand for wood continues to increase, and the cost is respectively higher, especially on those products having nice textures and requiring rare wood. The higher final cost of production is usually passed to consumers.

For this reason, the industry has attempted to change the material to reduce the cost of wood textured products. For example, the method for producing a wood textured dashboard in car, as shown in FIG. 1, requires producing a one-piece plastic plate, printing a wooden pattern on another thin film, pasting the thin film over the plastic plate, pressing the wood pattern onto the plastic plate by heating, and finally, peeling off the thin film to obtain the finished product. However, the surface of the product made by this conventional method does not have a natural wood texture. The products from this conventional method have a thin layer of print; therefore, the quality and durability of the products presented are not ideal.

As shown in FIG. 2, another method for producing a wood textured product requires pressing a layer of saw dust at the bottom of a mold firmly until reaching a certain level of rigidity, placing a thin wood plate on the saw dust layer, bonding by pressing and by heating, and finally, obtaining the finished product after trimming the edges. The products made by this conventional method display the quality of a natural wood texture. However, if the saw dust has water residue, the saw dust layer expands due to steam and causes the wooden plate to crack. Moreover, because the grain of the saw dust cannot be controlled easily, the density of the saw dust layer is not stable and does not spread evenly. When the density is too loose, the saw dust layer is likely to crack. When the density of the saw dust is too high, it is difficult to cut and process the product, which increases the difficulty of controlling quality of the product, and this higher defect rate increases the cost of the product.

Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an improved structure that can significantly improve the efficacy.

To this end, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes forming a wood material into a pre-determined shape, placing the wood material in the pre-determined shape into a plastic injection mold, molding the plastic injection mold to form a plastic base inside the wood material, and permeating a plastic composition inside the plastic base inside the fibers of the wood material. Thus, the invention integrates two materials into one piece. The integration method of the wood material and plastic material in the present invention produces an integrated product with a wood texture and durable support through a plastic base. The integrated product has high pressure resistance and heat resistance. The outer surface of the plastic base displays the quality of a natural wood texture, so that the wood and plastic materials are in perfect integration, providing both quality and durability. Moreover, under the integration of the wood and plastic material by the plastic injection mold, the defect rate can be reduced to the minimum, helping the process to meet demands for efficiency and to greatly reduce the cost of the preferred practicability.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a block diagram of the processing of the first conventional method.

FIG. 2 shows another schematic view of a block diagram of the processing of the second conventional method.

FIG. 3 shows still another schematic view of a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows perspective view and cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged sectional view of Part A of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective and cross-sectional view of the finished product of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the finished product of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the finished product of another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The features and the advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is an integration method and structure of wood and plastic materials embodied in the present invention. This embodiment is used for description only, and the patent application is not limited to this structure.

The integration method of wood and plastic material comprises: (1) obtaining at least one piece of wood material 10, which can be single layer or multiple layers; (2) forming the wood material 10 into a pre-determined shape, the wood material 10 of the embodiment being a flat plate; (3) placing the wood material 10 in a pre-determined shape inside a plastic injection mold 20; and (4) using the plastic injection mold 20 to form a plastic base 30 inside the wooden material 10.

The composition of the plastic base 30 permeates into the fiber of the wood material 10 so that the two materials are integrated into one piece. The texture of the outside of the wood material 10 is displayed for view. The finished product A1 made by the integration of the wood material 10 and the plastic base 30 as shown in FIG. 6 is a car dashboard. The natural wood texture is displayed on the surface of the wood material. The wood material 10 can be placed inside the plastic base 30, which lines up the surfaces of the two. The wooden material 10 obtains durability from the plastic base 30.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the side of the wood material 10 that is opposite from the side of the plastic base 30 can be sprayed or painted with clear lacquer layer 40 (such as polish lacquer), to form a protective film or shiny effect on the surface of the wooden material 10. The plastic injection mold 20 can also be used to make a clear plastic layer (such as PU, Polyester) to form the protective film.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, there is another embodiment of the integration of the wood and plastic material of the present invention. The finished product A2 is a decorative plate of the car gear shift. The difference between the finished product A1 from the previous embodiment and the finished product A2 is that the wood material 10B is a curved surface. The wood material 10B can be softened, bent, and placed into the plastic injection mold for molding. When the plastic base 30B is injected into the inside of the wooden material 10B, the plastic base 30B forms a curve that matches the wood material 10B. 

1. An integration method of wood and plastic materials, comprising: obtaining at least one piece of wood material; forming said wood material to a pre-determined shape; placing said wood material inside a plastic injection mold; forming a plastic base inside said wood material by use of a plastic composition in said plastic injection mold, said plastic composition permeating into fibers of said wood material, said wood material and said plastic composition being integrated into one piece, said wood material being displaying on an outside surface.
 2. The integration method and structure of wood and plastic materials defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of: spraying or painting a clear lacquer layer on said outside surface of said wood material.
 3. The integration method and structure of wood and plastic materials defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of: forming a clear plastic layer within said plastic injection mold outside of said wood material.
 4. An integrated product of wood and plastic materials, formed according to the method of claim 1, said integrated product comprising: a plastic base; and a wood material integrated into said plastic base, said wood material having one pre-determined side showing texture of said wood material. 